The interview process was long and drawn out. I went through 3-4 rounds, including one round with three different team members. After the initial screening, there was an in-person interview that required presenting a hypothetical product I would be implementing. I generally enjoyed the conversations and felt the core team was genuinely kind and looking for someone who would be a strong fit. I interview well and have solid startup and implementation experience, so the interviews themselves went smoothly. That said, the process dragged on for over two months, only for me to be told they couldn’t make a decision because they needed to fill a “different role within the company first.” After learning more about how their implementations are structured, I can see why there are multiple comments about customer churn. What ultimately led me to give a thumbs-down wasn’t the rejection, but how things were handled afterward. During my interview with the CEO (who, notably, picked his nose multiple times and tried to cover it with his hand like I wouldn’t notice… lol), he later went through my LinkedIn and reached out to people from my previous employers behind my back to ask about my performance. Isn’t that what references are for? After spending two months interviewing, multiple rounds, and completing an hour-long presentation with very little direction, I would expect to be trusted to provide references myself. Reaching out to former coworkers without context is unfair. People may have personal biases or be unhappy that I chose to leave. Let me provide references, and then verify them on LinkedIn if needed. Two months is far too long to “make a decision,” especially in an already tough job market. Overall, the experience felt strange and unprofessional. They also called me months later after I’m already excelling at a new company to see if I was interested still but never called back after I upped my salary expectation. Months later, after I had already moved on and was succeeding elsewhere, they reached out again but stopped responding once I raised my salary expectations.